The Mercer Gallery is pleased to bring in well-known Kansas counter-culture artist Derek Goon with his series of illustrations titled Slacker Mascots. This group of works explores various themes that Goon often thinks about as both a Midwesterner and a secondary public school teacher: textures, patterns, color combinations, words, and their meaning/impact, filling and playing with shape and space, young adult versus middle-aged life, cultural identity, and not taking himself too seriously. An artist reception will be held on October 13th from 6 – 8 PM as well as an artist workshop on October 14th from 9:30 – 11:30 AM in the Joyce Fine Arts Building room 1413 (drawing and painting classroom).
Goon’s illustrations are both meticulously drawn and, often, purposefully “dumb”, reflecting the duality of creating identifiable and believable forms as well as recognizing the impact that pop culture staples such as cartoons, video games, music, and countercultures have had on him as well as reflecting on the dangerous nature of nostalgia. Derek has his undergraduate in commercial art from the University of Central Missouri and his Master’s in curriculum and instruction from Wichita State University. He has worked as a commercial artist, a teacher of English in Vietnam, and is currently a high school visual arts and graphic design teacher at Wichita West high school and a freelance illustrator. He is married to Mae Lin and has two daughters, Estella and Emilia.
The Mercer Gallery is open Monday through Wednesday, from 9 AM to 4 PM, Thursdays from 9 AM to 10 PM, and Fridays from 9 AM until 4 PM. For information, contact Gallery Director Michael Knutson at michael.knutson@gcccks.edu.
Original source can be found here.
